Jyoshna - From Nothingness To Empowerment

Tonight I talk briefly about a music school and kiirtan festivals I was fortunate enough to initiate in New Zealand previously and now the Kiirtan Academy which is the most exciting one to date.  I also sing a kiirtan from the Philippines,  which is one of my favourites, and one I sang often for Baba when visiting India.  

Being in the Aran Islands this weekend was really amazing and while I was there, this song was just going over and over in my heart. So here it is, Lighthouse on the Cliff, written in the 80s, and sung for the first time in a very long time. It really sums up how I felt in the Aran Islands.  

My first trip to the Aran Islands the western most tip of Europe we visit the oldest Ringfort in Europe, 3500 years old. Even though we were told there wasn’t any traditional music on the island cos of Covid we managed to find some. Listen here ...

I was asking myself the question how would Chopin feel,  when the song  Angel came to me, a song about unrequited love. But after singing Baba Nam Kevalam Kiirtan to it yesterday, I now see it in a completely different light. Its also a song about divine love, ideal love as well as human love, where the little soul wants to merge into the Cosmic Soul. The image is of a sculpture by Brend...

Jyotsna (the Bengali spelling) Dile .The other night, during the storm here in Co Clare, I was singing a kiirtan from the song Jyotsna (the Bengali spelling) Dile. When a song  has your name in it, then of course you take it personally. Thats how I feel about this song, no 3069 of Prabhat Samgiit. The tune from this song is my Default Kiirtan that I sing when I really need to calm myself or j...

When our volunteer on the farm asked me today asked me what is "your nearest and dearest one"?, in relation to the meaning of the universal mantra Baba Nam kevalam . I had to really think about what to say...So here's a song Occen .. that relates to my feeling about it, a little story about fearful love becoming fearless love.

Sometimes its hard to feel whats going on in the world right now, especially with people feeling the deep sadness of loosing loved ones, we all feel it. Thats the bad news. But the good news is that in places like Rarh, in India, they believe that kiirtan carries the soul to the Supreme Soul, to its final destination, so thats a very beautiful thought. I am singing a song I wrote for my Dad when h...

I wasn't into public speaking at all when I was young, music was the way I expressed myself, luckily. I learnt meditation when I was 18, and I remember how difficult it was to sit for a long time in those early days, 15 mins was my max. When I was asked to speak after group meditation one day, I thought no way! So i went outside and I wrote my first bhajan called 'You're New to me' and sang it aft...

Spending time singing Daspera Raginii with Tinkuda on the back of the motorbike, was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.  This was while doing my fieldwork in Rarh, north east India, a region that is rich in music culture and spirituality.  Today I am singing Daspera Raginii melody for you, which is just a small segment of the actual raginii that is performed with the khol...

71/365 Tiny Green Island by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar has been sung all over the world. It has been translated into many languages including Spanish, Portuguese and Irish. Its still one of my favourites and I have recorded it twice (on Touched by the Sea album in 1994 and Avarta Kiirtan II album in Ireland in 2018) and could keep on recoding it, again and again with different arrangements. Click below...

Today on -Ekadashi (fast day)- I talk about what its like to fast every two weeks. I also saw a facebook post about George Stinney Jnr.  When I read about terrible injustices done to innocent people, plants, animals, whatever, it makes me so sad, to put it mildly. It reminds of the song by P.R Sarkar called   Manus Sabai Apan (no 1040 Prabhat Samgiit Collection). So today I am singing th...

With everyone facing Covid, I think this song is so pertinent and  relevant in the present situation.  Jhirnu Vishirnu,  or song of service is still one of my favourites of the Prabhat Samgiit Collection, written with ink of the heart by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, the greatest Indian composer of the 20th century.  Click here to listen to the album 'Who Else Will' version. The beaut...

68/365 I left NZ in 1979 on a trip to the UK. On the way I stopped in Los Angeles. After a week or two I heard Baba was coming to Jamaica, so I hopped on a plane to Jamaica. There I got to Meet Baba physically for the first time. I sang a song for Baba, called Woman, the lyrics are by Rabindranath Tagore. Click below to see that video on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qDDEdYxPn4&t=1...

67/365 My friend Tina Tourin wrote.. "I know what its like to hold soft innocence in your arms", which is exactly what I felt when I held my little one again after three weeks. It was a lovely day, with great company, great food, and high spirits.

What else to say.. Im getting the best present ever! Isabel, my daughter, is coming home tomorrow on my birthday! They have been away for three weeks in Czech visiting family. Click below to listen to Isabels song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrF9mQXROFw&feature=youtu.be

The End of our First Online Kiirtan Course - was really awesome, thanks to  everyone who shared their sounds, their voice, their soul. Maybe in future we will have a Kiirtan version of the Global Talent Show). Click below to listen to Unity Hours. thank you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bbd8or9C8Q&list=OLAK5uy_noW_l--_dcIphic45x_XaWcNzh8kif7oc .   

In this sixth session of the Online Kiirtan Academy Course, we were sharing stories and experiences about kiirtan, it was really lovely. Sometimes when doing something new, boundaries within are broken, and its possible to recognise that, yes, we are growing beyond what we've previously thought possible, its painful yet at the same time, painfully beautiful!  Click here to listen to Cascading...

Tonight I talk a little about what can you do with the emotion that comes up when we are making and playing kiirtan and what is devotion? What goes into making a kiirtan sequence? Although I am talking about a new concept,  it's old in the sense that kiirtaniyas do it whenever they choose kiirtans to play for half an hour or more in a row. Kiirtan sequences help us to choose which kiirtans to...

What to do when someone joins the kiirtan playing drums or tambourine and is in their own flow? Drumming is so important in kiirtan and in Rarh kiirtan groups have made one whole section just for the drum solo. Its called katan and its amazing!. Check it out here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJvLcXs7yh8

Many times we lose our voices when singing kiirtan because its quite strenuous if you are singing, dancing and playing the guitar continuously for over half an hour. But my training with Jagaranda was another incredible lesson in kiirtan voice training.  Listen to the strength and beauty of Shiva Ranjani Raga off Red Earth Fusion, to hear a traditional Rarhi Kiirtan raga.   https://www.y...

So tonight we gathered again, people from many different parts of the world to discuss the fundamentals of kiirtan and how we can improve our practice. I talked about the basic kiirtan rhythms of kiirtan that distinguishes it from other music genres, and about the ideation for lalita marmika kiirtan dance. We also had fun finding where to step on the first beat of the bar in time with different ki...

It was wonderful to see people from different parts of the globe and to hear their kiirtans.  I talked about Beliefs, Benefits and History of kiirtan and Amitabha talked about the many different voice ranges, its was fascinating. Click below to hear a very old recording of a kiirtan song I wrote in the 80'.s, thank you. https://youtu.be/Y4XG7i2saok

In this podcast Didi Ananda Prama from Sunrise Education Trust and I speak about the Whys of Launching the Kiirtan Academy and the Online Course starting tomorrow. Click here to hear Tiny Green Island in three langauages: Portuguese, Spanish and English. Filmed in Brazil in 2011.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5XH1YJ3yFA

Tonight Jiivan and I sing a song which could describe either Ireland or New Zealand or any small island. But in fact it has a much deeper meaning. Listen here. Thanks so much.

Today I talk with Yuktesha from Taiwan, pronounced Juktesh  who one day, out of the blue on FB, offered to design my CD covers for me. We talk bout his experience as a visual artist, a painter of mandalas, composer of kiirtans, and how it has been in Taiwan during COVID.